POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 13) -- Much to the delight of foodies and race
fans across the nation, Melanie Troxel successfully put her iconic
In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger R/T into the Funny Car elimination field at
the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Troxel powered down Pomona's 1,000-foot drag strip in 4.261 seconds at
290.07 mph to make the cut, setting up a Sunday morning date with Robert
Hight, who topped out at 4.080 seconds at 312.35 mph. Troxel and Hight
also squared off earlier this year in the first round of the Atlanta
event, a race won by Hight.

"It's great to be qualified," said Troxel, whose team went through a crew
chief change a few races back when Aaron Brooks was put in charge. "The
car went down the track two times today so that's a good thing. It was
hot today and it looks like we're going to have very similar conditions
tomorrow, so our confidence is rising.

"Aaron has grooved with the team very smoothly. He knows how this group
works from his time here a few years back and he and I have developed
great chemistry as well. We're all very comfortable with him here and
we're making progress with the car. We're learning stuff each run and
seeing places where we can improve, so I expect we can start doing
considerably better moving forward."

Troxel said longtime customers of In-N-Out Burger have been motivating
her and the R2B2 Racing crew all weekend. In-N-Out Burger is based 30
miles away in Baldwin Park, Calif.

"It's fun for us to be out here in In-N-Out country and to be around so
many fans of the restaurant," Troxel said. "There is such a great
response every time we pull back in front of the grandstands and I
honestly think most of those people are just In-N-Out burger fans and
probably have no idea who I am. Either way, we appreciate their support.

"We've also got a bunch of In-N-Out Burger employees with us and it's
neat to see how excited they are to see their racecar. Plus, Lynsi Synder
(the owner of In-N-Out Burger) is racing her Super Comp car this weekend
and cheering us on when we go up there to make our runs so it's a big,
big weekend for us."